Indeed. Didn't we try UIs that change on the user dynamically and concluded they absolutely suck (remember the Windows 98 start menu re-ordering menu item position based on frequency of use?). They go against muscle memory training, and decades (centuries?) of convention.

For someone who spends the day in Terminal (bash with readline in Vim editing mode) and Vim, missing physical ESC key is going to be a huge pain in the ass.

So, after a decade of Apple hardware I am yet again on the cross roads looking for decent hardware and OS to go with it. As it stands now, Linux with PC hardware is going to be the only real option. At least there are good mechanical keyboard for PCs.